GED Language Arts (RLA) : Using Evidence
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Example Questions
Example Question #1 : Summarizing Or Describing The Passage
From “The Dead” in Dubliners by James Joyce (1915)
She was fast asleep.
Gabriel, leaning on his elbow, looked for a few moments unresentfully on her tangled hair and half-open mouth, listening to her deep-drawn breath. So she had had that romance in her life: a man had died for her sake. It hardly pained him now to think how poor a part he, her husband, had played in her life. He watched her while she slept as though he and she had never lived together as man and wife. His curious eyes rested long upon her face and on her hair: and, as he thought of what she must have been then, in that time of her first girlish beauty, a strange friendly pity for her entered his soul. He did no like to say even to himself that her face was no longer beautiful but he knew that it was no longer the face for which Michael Furey had braved death.
Perhaps she had not told him all the story. His eyes moved to the chair over which she had thrown some of her clothes. A petticoat string dangled to the floor. One boot stood upright, its limp upper fallen: the fellow of it lay upon its side. He wondered at his riot of emotions of an hour before. From what had it proceeded? From his aunt’s supper, from his own foolish speech, from the wine and dancing, the merry-making when saying good-night in the hall, the pleasure of the walk along the river in the snow. Poor Aunt Julia! She, too, would soon be a shade with the shade of Patrick Morkan and his horse. He had caught that haggard look upon her face for a moment when she was singing Arrayed for the Bridal. Soon, perhaps, he would be sitting in that same drawing-room, dressed in black, his silk hat on his knees. The blinds would be drawn down and Aunt Kate would be sitting beside him, crying and blowing her nose and telling him how Julia had died. He would cast about in his mind for some words that might console her, and would find only lame and useless ones. Yes, yes: that would happen very soon.
The air of the room chilled his shoulders. He stretched himself cautiously along under the sheets and lay down beside his wife. One by one they were all becoming shades. Better pass boldly into that other world, in the full glory of some passion, than fade and wither dismally with age. He thought of how she who lay beside him had locked in her heart for so many years that image of her lover’s eyes when he had told her that he did not wish to live.
Generous tears filled Gabriel’s eyes. He had never felt like that himself towards any woman but he knew that such a feeling must be love. The tears gathered more thickly in his eyes and in the partial darkness he imagined he saw the form of a young man standing under a dripping tree. Other forms were near. His soul had approached that region where dwell the vast hosts of the dead. He was conscious of, but could not apprehend, their wayward and flickering existence. His own identity was fading out into a grey impalpable world: the solid world itself which these dead had one time reared and lived in was dissolving and dwindling.
A few light taps upon the pane made him turn to the window. It had begun to snow again. He watched sleepily the flakes, silver and dark, falling obliquely against the lamplight. The time had come for him to set out on his journey westward. Yes, the newspapers were right: snow was general all over Ireland. It was falling on every part of the dark central plain, on the treeless hills, falling softly upon the hill where Michael Furey lay buried. It lay thickly drifted on the crooked crosses and headstones, on the spears of the little gate, on the barren thorns. His soul swooned slowly as he heard the snow falling faintly through the universe and faintly falling, like the descent of their last end, upon all the living and the dead.
Which of the following excerpts best captures the overall theme of the passage?
"His own identity was fading out into a grey impalpable world: the solid world itself which these dead had one time reared and lived in was dissolving and dwindling."
"Better pass boldly into that other world, in the full glory of some passion, than fade and wither dismally with age."
"So she had had that romance in her life: a man had died for her sake."
"His soul swooned slowly as he heard the snow falling faintly through the universe and faintly falling, like the descent of their last end, upon all the living and the dead."
"His soul had approached that region where dwell the vast hosts of the dead. He was conscious of, but could not apprehend, their wayward and flickering existence."
"Better pass boldly into that other world, in the full glory of some passion, than fade and wither dismally with age."
"Better pass boldly into that other world, in the full glory of some passion, than fade and wither dismally with age" captures the theme of the passage. Gabriel struggles throughout the passage with his fear of aging and dying slowly without finding meaning in his life, while he admires the young and passionate death of Michael Furey.
Example Question #2 : Using Evidence
This is the forest primeval. The murmuring pines and the hemlocks,
Bearded with moss, and in garments green, indistinct in the twilight,
Stand like Druids of eld, with voices sad and prophetic,
Stand like harpers hoar, with beards that rest on their bosoms.
Loud from its rocky caverns, the deep-voiced neighboring ocean (5)
Speaks, and in accents disconsolate answers the wail of the forest.
(1847)
What is the purpose of lines 1-2 in the passage?
To emphasize the eeriness of the setting
To begin to personify the natural world
To introduce a brief personification that includes only the trees
To foreshadow line 6
To destabilize the narrator’s voice
To begin to personify the natural world
Lines 1-2 introduces the poet’s lengthy, detailed personification of the forest and its trees. By saying that the pines are “murmuring” and the hemlocks are “bearded with moss, and in garments green,” the author ascribes human actions and attributes to inanimate objects. Since this personification continues to the end of the excerpt and also includes the ocean, the best choice is “To begin to personify the natural world.”
Passage adapted from Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s “Evangeline.” (1847)
Example Question #1 : Using Evidence
Adapted from As You Like It by William Shakespeare (1623)
[This is a monologue by the character Jacques]
All the world's a stage,
And all the men and women merely players;
They have their exits and their entrances;
And one man in his time plays many parts,
His acts being seven ages. At first the infant,
Mewling and puking in the nurse's arms;
Then the whining school-boy, with his satchel
And shining morning face, creeping like a snail
Unwillingly to school. And then the lover,
Sighing like a furnace, with a woeful ballad
Made to his mistress' eyebrow. Then a soldier,
Full of strange oaths and bearded like the pard,
Jealous in honour, sudden and quick in quarrel,
Seeking the bubble reputation
Even in the cannon's mouth. And then the justice,
In fair round belly with good capon lin'd,
With eyes severe and beard of formal cut,
Full of wise saws and modern instances;
And so he plays his part. The sixth age shifts
Into the lean and slipper'd pantaloon,
With spectacles on nose and pouch on side,
His youthful hose, well sav'd, a world too wide
For his shrunk shank; and his big manly voice,
Turning again toward childish treble, pipes
And whistles in his sound. Last scene of all,
That ends this strange eventful history,
Is second childishness and mere oblivion;
Sans teeth, sans eyes, sans taste, sans every thing.
What is the underlined section describing?
How the old man becomes like a child, unable even to function on his own
How the old man will always love children, for he now knows how important was his childhood
How weak-willed the elderly are, unwilling to change the world to which they have become so accustomed
How an older man's voice often becomes high like that of a child once more
How the old man becomes like a child, unwilling to voice his own opinion but instead accepting the trivial, piping sayings with which he is comfortable
How an older man's voice often becomes high like that of a child once more
Sometimes an expression really is as literal as it seems, and this is the case here. The author is merely talking about the voice of the man. Now that he is old, the voice, which had at one time been manly and deep, has now become high like a child's voice. It is "treble," that is, like the treble clef in music—high in pitch. Hence, it begins to pipe and whistle. Certainly, this is not the case with everyone, but the author is trying give a general image of this late stage of life.
Example Question #2 : Using Evidence
Adapted from "Review of Wyandotté, or The Hutted Knoll" by Edgar Allan Poe (1843)
The most obvious and most unaccountable faults of The Hutted Knoll are those which appertain to the style—to the mere grammatical construction; for, in other and more important particulars of style, Mr. Cooper, of late days, has made a very manifest improvement. His sentences, however, are arranged with an awkwardness so remarkable as to be matter of absolute astonishment, when we consider the education of the author and his long and continual practice with the pen. In minute descriptions of localities, any verbal inaccuracy or confusion becomes a source of vexation and misunderstanding, detracting very much from the pleasure of perusal; and in these inaccuracies Wyandotté abounds. Although, for instance, we carefully read and reread that portion of the narrative that details the situation of the Knoll, and the construction of the buildings and walls about it, we were forced to proceed with the story without any exact or definite impressions upon the subject. Similar difficulties, from similar causes, occur passim throughout the book. For example, at page 41, vol. I:
“The man gazed at the house with a fierce intentness that sometimes glared, in a manner that had got to be, in its ordinary aspects, dull.” This it is utterly impossible to comprehend. We presume, however, the intention is to say that although the man’s ordinary manner (of gazing) had “got to be” dull, he occasionally gazed with an intentness that glared, and that he did so in the instance in question. The “got to be” is atrocious, the whole sentence no less so.
Here, at page 9, vol. I, is something excessively vague: “Of the latter character is the face of most of that region that lies in the angle formed by the junction of the Mohawk with the Hudson,” etc. etc. The Mohawk, joining the Hudson, forms two angles, of course—an acute and an obtuse one; and, without farther explanation, it is difficult to say which is intended.
At page 55, vol. I., we read: “The captain, owing to his English education, had avoided straight lines, and formal paths, giving to the little spot the improvement on nature which is a consequence of embellishing her works without destroying them. On each side of this lawn was an orchard, thrifty and young, and that were already beginning to show signs of putting forth their blossoms.” Here we are tautologically informed that improvement is a consequence of embellishment, and supererogatorily told that the rule holds good only where the embellishment is not accompanied by destruction. Upon the “each orchard were" it is needless to comment.
The problem Poe discusses in the third paragraph is that __________.
Cooper's description of the Hudson and Mohawk rivers does not tell where they intersect
Cooper's description of the Hudson and Mohawk rivers does not give enough detail
Cooper's description of the Hudson and Mohawk rivers shows he does not know what he is talking about
Cooper's description of the Hudson and Mohawk rivers is grammatically poor
Cooper's description of the Hudson and Mohawk rivers does not give enough detail
Poe says this description is "excessively vague" because it refers to one angle rather than two, therefore not giving enough detail. This specific critique of one aspect of Cooper's writing and description acts as evidence of the general fuzziness of thinking, and inattentiveness that Poe argues characterize Cooper's writing in general.
Example Question #3 : Identifying Supporting Details
Dear Congressman Phillips,
I urge you to reconsider your closure of the shipyard. I'm a medical practitioner in the area, so I meet many of the men and women employed by the facility. Many of these people are living paycheck to paycheck, unable to afford regular medical care; any gap in their employment could be devastating. If you must see it economically, consider the tremendous cost to the taxpayers when these people must rely on public programs for assistance. I ask you to please keep this shipyard open.
Very truly yours, . . .
Which option is NOT a supporting detail for raising guard salaries?
The employees would rely on public assistance
The author is a medical practitioner
The employees cannot afford to be unemployed
The shipyard employees cannot afford regular medical care
None of these
The author is a medical practitioner
While the passage does state that the author is a medical practitioner, the fact does not support the main argument; instead, it lends credibility to his arguments.
Example Question #4 : Using Evidence
Following the fall of the Soviet Union, the European education system underwent an overhaul which was, in part, solidified with the creation of the Bologna Process, an agreement among European countries to improve consistency and quality in higher education across the continent. The creation of the Bologna Process has not only improved the standard of education in EU nations, but set a very high bar for nations hoping to join the EU to hurdle. Belarus has already applied and been rejected due to concerns about its academic commitment. So we can see that quality education in Europe is not simply a lucky coincidence, or the natural result of a long history of scholars, but an intentional reform initiative upon which major political decisions, such as the inclusion of countries into the European Union, are made. Eastern European countries also had an especially difficult time transitioning to the new standards required of Bologna Process signatories since they were coming from the Soviet tradition of severely underfunded public schools and widespread bribery as a main criterion for university admission. The Soviet influence on the current state of tertiary education can clearly be seen by comparing Eastern and Western Germany. Before the implementation of the Bologna Process and formation of the European Higher Education Area, many European countries modeled their higher education system on Germany's, which separated students into academic or vocational training schools from the beginning of high school. This model fit with the Communist rationale of all jobs being of equal value, and the obligation of adolescents to train for the job for which they were best suited in society rather than allowing them to choose a major at the university level.
What evidence does the author use to support the assertion that Soviet influence remains in the modern-day European higher education?
The creation of the Bologna Process has improved the standard of education in EU nations
Quality education in Europe is the result of its long history of scholars
Differences can be seen between Western and Eastern German educations
Widespread bribery is a main criterion for university admission
Students are no longer separated into academic or vocational training schools from the beginning of high school
Differences can be seen between Western and Eastern German educations
The passage states that, "The Soviet influence on the current state of tertiary education can clearly be seen by comparing Eastern and Western Germany." This is a pretty direct assertion that pertains directly to the question at hand.
Example Question #3 : Using Evidence
Adapted from Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare, III.ii.82-117 (1599)
[This is a speech by Mark Antony]
Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears!
I come to bury Caesar, not to praise him.
The evil that men do lives after them,
The good is oft interred with their bones;
So let it be with Caesar. The noble Brutus
Hath told you Caesar was ambitious;
If it were so, it was a grievous fault,
And grievously hath Caesar answer'd it.
Here, under leave of Brutus and the rest-
For Brutus is an honorable man;
So are they all, all honorable men-
Come I to speak in Caesar's funeral.
He was my friend, faithful and just to me;
But Brutus says he was ambitious,
And Brutus is an honorable man.
He hath brought many captives home to Rome,
Whose ransoms did the general coffers fill.
Did this in Caesar seem ambitious?
When that the poor have cried, Caesar hath wept;
Ambition should be made of sterner stuff:
Yet Brutus says he was ambitious,
And Brutus is an honorable man.
You all did see that on the Lupercal [a public festival]
I thrice presented him a kingly crown,
Which he did thrice refuse. Was this ambition?
Yet Brutus says he was ambitious,
And sure he is an honorable man.
I speak not to disprove what Brutus spoke,
But here I am to speak what I do know.
You all did love him once, not without cause;
What cause withholds you then to mourn for him?
O judgment, thou art fled to brutish beasts,
And men have lost their reason. Bear with me;
My heart is in the coffin there with Caesar,
And I must pause till it come back to me.
What is the purpose of the underlined line, "When that the poor have cried, Caesar hath wept"?
To show how weak-willed Caesar actually was.
To show that Caesar was not the tough figure that Brutus and others thought he was.
To provide a human touch in the description of Caesar at his funeral.
To make the point that even real men can cry.
To provide another example of how Caesar does not appear actually to have ambition.
To provide another example of how Caesar does not appear actually to have ambition.
The key to interpreting this line is found on the very next line: "Ambition should be made of sterner stuff." Mark Antony is implying that ambitious men are "stern" that is hard and unlikely to cry. However, Caesar did in fact weep with the poor. Therefore, he is using the example of crying to try to show that perhaps Brutus is not correct in making the claim that Caesar was ambitious.
Example Question #6 : Using Evidence
Following the fall of the Soviet Union, the European education system underwent an overhaul which was, in part, solidified with the creation of the Bologna Process, an agreement among European countries to improve consistency and quality in higher education across the continent. The creation of the Bologna Process has not only improved the standard of education in EU nations, but set a very high bar for nations hoping to join the EU to hurdle. Belarus has already applied and been rejected due to concerns about its academic commitment. So we can see that quality education in Europe is not simply a lucky coincidence, or the natural result of a long history of scholars, but an intentional reform initiative upon which major political decisions, such as the inclusion of countries into the European Union, are made. Eastern European countries also had an especially difficult time transitioning to the new standards required of Bologna Process signatories since they were coming from the Soviet tradition of severely underfunded public schools and widespread bribery as a main criterion for university admission. The Soviet influence on the current state of tertiary education can clearly be seen by comparing eastern and western Germany. Before the implementation of the Bologna Process and formation of the European Higher Education Area, many European countries modeled their higher education system on Germany's, which separated students into academic or vocational training schools from the beginning of high school. This model fit with the Communist rationale of all jobs being of equal value, and the obligation of adolescents to train for the job for which they were best suited in society rather than allowing them to choose a major at the university level.
The example highlighted in the text supports which conclusion?
Belarus was deemed to be not economically strong enough to join the EU
Belarus may have been approved to join the EU if it had shown more commitment to the quality of its education
The EU's criteria for entry are arbitrary and unfair
Belarus did not want to join the EU because of undue influence the EU may impose on its educational system
None of these conclusions can be made based on available evidence
Belarus may have been approved to join the EU if it had shown more commitment to the quality of its education
The example of Belarus was provided to support the previous sentence: "The creation of the Bologna Process has not only improved the standard of education in EU nations, but set a very high bar for nations hoping to join the EU to hurdle." Therefore, since Belarus was denied because of a lack of commitment to education, it stands to reason that the country may have been accepted had this not been an issue.
Example Question #4 : Using Evidence
Adapted from Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare, III.ii.82-117 (1599)
[This is a speech by Mark Antony]
Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears!
I come to bury Caesar, not to praise him.
The evil that men do lives after them,
The good is oft interred with their bones;
So let it be with Caesar. The noble Brutus
Hath told you Caesar was ambitious;
If it were so, it was a grievous fault,
And grievously hath Caesar answer'd it.
Here, under leave of Brutus and the rest-
For Brutus is an honorable man;
So are they all, all honorable men-
Come I to speak in Caesar's funeral.
He was my friend, faithful and just to me;
But Brutus says he was ambitious,
And Brutus is an honorable man.
He hath brought many captives home to Rome,
Whose ransoms did the general coffers fill.
Did this in Caesar seem ambitious?
When that the poor have cried, Caesar hath wept;
Ambition should be made of sterner stuff:
Yet Brutus says he was ambitious,
And Brutus is an honorable man.
You all did see that on the Lupercal [a public festival]
I thrice presented him a kingly crown,
Which he did thrice refuse. Was this ambition?
Yet Brutus says he was ambitious,
And sure he is an honorable man.
I speak not to disprove what Brutus spoke,
But here I am to speak what I do know.
You all did love him once, not without cause;
What cause withholds you then to mourn for him?
O judgment, thou art fled to brutish beasts,
And men have lost their reason. Bear with me;
My heart is in the coffin there with Caesar,
And I must pause till it come back to me.
Why is the underlined selection not necessarily a good argument?
Caesar could have refused the crown merely to please the crowd.
Mark Antony had incited the crowd not to allow Caesar to accept the crown.
Caesar was arrogant to accept the crown.
The Lupercal was a false feast, based upon myths and unhelpful for any political ruler.
Caesar should not have accepted the crown, for it showed true ambition.
Caesar could have refused the crown merely to please the crowd.
The first thing to do is to interpret what Mark Antony is stating here. He is saying that he presented Caesar with a crown three times at the Lupercal feast. Three times ("thrice") Caesar apparently refused to take it. Mark Antony is implying that this shows that he was not ambitious. However, it could well have been the case that he did not take the crown precisely because he wanted to seem unambitious so that he could appeal to the people. Mark Antony's argument here is charged with rhetoric, but that does not diminish its weakness. We must be aware of such uses of language so as not to be tricked. Matters just cannot be seen as being that simple.
Example Question #1 : Word Choice And Effect
Adapted from “Solitary Death, make me thine own” in Underneath the Bough: A Book of Verses by Michael Field (pseudonym of Katherine Bradley and Edith Cooper) (1893)
Solitary Death, make me thine own,
And let us wander the bare fields together;
Yea, thou and I alone
Roving in unembittered unison forever.
I will not harry thy treasure-graves,
I do not ask thy still hands a lover;
My heart within me craves
To travel till we twain Time’s wilderness discover.
To sojourn with thee my soul was bred,
And I, the courtly sights of life refusing,
To the wide shadows fled,
And mused upon thee often as I fell a-musing.
Escaped from chaos, thy mother Night,
In her maiden breast a burthen that awed her,
By cavern waters white
Drew thee her first-born, her unfathered off-spring toward her.
On dewey plats, near twilight dingle,
She oft, to still thee from men’s sobs and curses
In thine ears a-tingle,
Pours her cool charms, her weird, reviving chaunt rehearses.
Though mortals menace thee or elude,
And from thy confines break in swift transgression.
Thou for thyself art sued
Of me, I claim thy cloudy purlieus my possession.
To a long freshwater, where the sea
Stirs the silver flux of the reeds and willows,
Come thou, and beckon me
To lie in the lull of the sand-sequestered billows:
Then take the life I have called my own
And to the liquid universe deliver;
Loosening my spirit’s zone,
Wrap round me as thy limbs the wind, the light, the river.
The use of the underlined and bolded term “Solitary” at the opening of the poem serves which of the following purposes?
The use of “solitary” at the opening of the poem situates the narrator as a lonely person so in need of companionship that she is willing to court even death.
Figuring personified “Death” as solitary at the opening of the poem adds emotional resonance to the speaker's address to Death advocating for them to be companions.
Characterizing Death as “solitary” at the opening of the poem suggests the fundamental, unbridgeable gap between abstract concepts and mortal beings.
The use of “solitary” at the opening of the poem sets the tone for the rest of the poem, which is concerned with the grief and loneliness that often follows a death.
Figuring personified “Death” as solitary at the opening of the poem situates death as a negative and limiting force.
Figuring personified “Death” as solitary at the opening of the poem adds emotional resonance to the speaker's address to Death advocating for them to be companions.
Opening the poem with personified “Death” as a solitary figure adds emotional resonance and purchase to the speaker’s subsequent plea to Death for them to be companions. This way, the closing image of Death embracing the speaker completes an emotional journey; Death started the poem alone and ends in an embrace. This change can be seem as mutually beneficial and supportive, rather than the speaker simply using Death or vice-versa.
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